Plaxon, Plaxoff

I've been getting occasional little messages for the last year or so from colleagues and obscure acquaintances that were mass-generated by the program "Plaxo". It's a deal that's supposed to automatically update your Outlook contacts whenever anyone changes address, phone number, job, favorite color, etc. If someone in your Contacts folder hasn't joined the Plaxo cult, the program sends them an email asking if their information is still current. Interesting concept.

I've never been able to get the thing to work behind the impenetrable Hitachi firewall, so I've been deleting the messages as an annoyance.

However, I got a few last week and decided to try again to use the tool. As expected, the impenetrable wall of fire denied access, but this time I forgot to remove the tool before I left for home. And when I booted up at home, it managed to get through.

Now I am converted. What a cool little deal. Many dozens of casual one-time acquaintances that I exchanged cards with at some minor trade show showed up in my Outlook Contacts folder complete with full address and title, even if they've exchanged jobs recently. And, wonder of wonders, once it contacted the mother ship one time from home, it found a way to re-connect through the impenetrable death wall at the office.

Very nice tool. Feel free to add my email address you your own Outlook Contacts folder and watch as my business address and phone number download. I will warn my admin to expect a flood of complimentary calls and requests for signed photos.

Filed in: administration